Screen capture is a very useful option available in most computer operating systems and one which the vast majority of users would not be willing to give up. Unfortunately, the screen capture option also opens the door for malware to acquire private information entered by the user on his screen. For instance, when a user accesses a bank account or other sensitive web location, the user may type confidential information into specific fields to acquire access. Malware that is installed on said user's computer can be activated when such a window is displayed and may capture the screen, thus also capturing confidential information that the malware may then forward to its creator.
Some security software deals with this problem simply by preventing the system from performing a screen capture under a variety of conditions which give rise to suspicion. However, this approach has the great disadvantage of resulting in many “false positive” identifications of potential malware attacks, which lead to a frustrating situation in which the user is not able to perform a screen capture when he needs to. These and other drawbacks exist.